Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Last week, my colleague Hisham Zerriffi and I each received an envelope full of photocopied articles, from the Wall St. Journal and other sources, and various scribblings all attacking the scientific evidence that humans are primarily responsible for recent climate change.

Receiving mail from an ardent skeptic of climate change is not unusual for us scientists. Over the years I've got small envelopes, large envelopes, handwritten notes, phone calls, all-cap e-mails and no shortage of nasty online comments. I'll guess that Hisham and I were not the only people studying climate change to receive copies of this particular material (let me know in the comments).

This package was unique, however, in one important way. The return address - no name was given - was "One Physics Ellipse" in College Park, Maryland.

While it is true that not all of its members agree on that statement, scientists and certainly physicists are not exactly pros at speaking in one voice, I do find it odd to receive a package of "skeptic" material, much of which was downright silly (CO2 emissions don't "rise"), from the actual headquarters.

I got one in later June and another September, from two different post offices, one in Southern MD and the other in Washington, neither the same as the one Eli showed.

Note that APS is there also, and there are a few APS folks who do not view me with favor, given APS Petition.The first package arrived a few weeks after Science ran a profile, including :'Will Happer, a physicist at PrincetonUniversity who questions the consensusview on climate, thinks Mashey is adestructive force who uses “totalitarian tactics”—publishing damaging documents online, without peer review—to carry out personal vendettas. Whereas Mann lauds Mashey for “exploring the underbelly of climate denial,” Happer says Mashey’s tactics are “contrary to open inquiry.”'

But, I'm pleased to see the wealth is being spread around, not just to me.

Anyone else? Someone has been busy. Some of the photocopies seem to have hand-added commetns in green ink.